Châteauguay residents stunned to learn Homolka lives in their community

Châteauguay residents were stunned to learn this week that Karla Homolka, 45, resides in the community and has children attending Centennial Park, an elementary school that is a short distance from her home.

When Bruce Richter lived in Scarborough, Ont. in the early 1990s, he occasionally saw Paul Bernardo walking around the neighbourhood with his girlfriend, Karla Homolka.

“She was very pretty,” Richter recalled of the teenager, who would eventually become one of Canada’s most notorious criminals for her role in the sex killings of two schoolgirls and her 15-year-old sister, Tammy.

So Richter could hardly believe his ears on Wednesday when he learned that all these years later, Homolka was not only living in his Châteauguay neighbourhood on Montreal’s South Shore, but on his street.

“It’s very strange considering I saw her when she was a kid with Bernardo,” Richter said. “One time, my friend chased Bernardo out of the bushes when he was hiding near a (woman’s home).”

Châteauguay residents were stunned to learn this week that Homolka, 45, resides in the community and has children attending Centennial Park, an elementary school that is a short distance from her home.

Homolka is now using the name Léanne Teale, which is the surname that she and Bernardo adopted shortly after their marriage. Teale was a serial killer in the movie Criminal Law and a character that Bernardo admired.

A woman who lives next door to Homolka told the Montreal Gazette that she didn’t know her neighbour’s real identity until this week. She said Homolka has lived on the street for about two years, but said she keeps to herself. “They have been nice people,” said the woman, who refused to give her name. “I feel very sad for the children.”

Richter said, he too, has never spoken to Homolka, but he doubts that it will be easy for her to remain in the community. “She does have a right to stay on the street, but it won’t be fun for her children, especially at school. You know how kids are. It will be hard for her to escape her past.”

He said he believes that some people are still angry that Homolka only received a 12-year sentence for manslaughter for her role in the killings of her sister, 15-year-old Kristen French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy.

Homolka remained inside her home with some of her children on Wednesday and asked reporters to stay off her property. She startled a television reporter when she smacked her hand against a frosted window pane as the reporter was asking to speak to her. Homolka later called the police, who instructed reporters to stay off her property.

Homolka’s husband, who is her former lawyer’s brother, told La Presse on Tuesday that if neighbours were worried, they could simply move.

As news of Homolka’s presence in the community spread, curious residents drove by her two-storey home a short distance from the Châteauguay River.

A parent, whose child attends Centennial Park School, said she was certain that children were talking about Homolka in the schoolyard on Wednesday. “Now I have to explain to my son who she is,” said the parent, who gave her name as Karina. “It’s Karla Homolka. We all know who she is.”

The New Frontiers School Board issued a statement Wednesday saying psychologists and counsellors are available to speak to any parents or children who need their services. The board said it wanted to reassure parents that any adult who works or volunteers directly with students has to undergo a criminal background check.

The statement also said that the issue came to light on the weekend when a reporter went door to door asking if people knew that Karla Homolka was living in the area.

A man who lives across the street from Centennial Park elementary said there has been a lot of commotion at the school since news broke that Homolka’s children are students there. “There are a lot of worried parents,” said the man, who gave his name as Ron.

Ron said he was surprised to hear that Homolka is living in Châteauguay but not surprised that people eventually discovered who she is. “Did she think that she was going to live a normal life?”

Philip Yates turned up at the school on Wednesday to keep an eye on his grandchildren, one of whom may be in class with Homolka’s child.

Yates said he feels badly for Homolka’s three children, whose lives have suddenly become much more difficult and he wonders whether Homolka and her husband will stay in the neighbourhood. “She can’t keep picking up and moving,” he said.

Châteauguay Mayor Nathalie Simon said she understands the concerns of some of her city’s residents.

“The fact that our city is making headlines for something like this is not pleasant,” Simon told the Montreal Gazette on Wednesday.

“I don’t know who buys houses in the city of Châteauguay, I don’t know who moves into my community – it’s the same for any municipality.” She said she “understands people’s questions, the fears that are being expressed (but) I imagine that as a larger society, we have mechanisms in place to protect our citizens, to ensure they are safe.”

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